


Orange is the New Green..?

by webbstar



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - GTA, Alternate Universe - Prison, Gen, Mentions of drugs, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:30:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2351732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webbstar/pseuds/webbstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray never expected to end up in prison. He definitely didn't expect to spend the next five years of his life in prison. But after meeting four pretty amazing people, he wasn't sure if that was such a problem. Based very loosely on their GTAV characters. Has little to nothing to do with Orange is the New Black.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Extra Author's Note: I posted this on chapter eight, but i realize now that Geoff has explicitly stated that he doesn't want his daughter to be alluded to, mentioned, or written about in fics. My fic used to include both his wife and his daughter as loose characters, but with this information, I'm making changes to only include his wife. I've edited the parts that I specifically remember writing about her, but please please please if you see any mentions of his daughter that I missed, let me know so that I can change that ASAP. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! <3 Kara

Ray never knew what prison would be like. He never thought that he’d ever have to see past the visitors’ area. And yet, here he was, being stripped down and searched, with an orange jumpsuit folded up next to his feet. He never knew that he could fuck up this badly, and yet, here he was. The prison guards didn’t say a word to him. No reassuring smile, not even cutting judgements about why he was there. They looked as if they had the life sucked out of them, and Ray nearly passed out when he realized that this was his fate.

He shook the idea out of his head, and replaced it with the picture of a calendar. He was only in for 5 years. That’s only 1825 days. Not too bad. The Puerto Rican youth wasn’t too mischievous, and didn’t believe in causing excess trouble, so the number of days could be reduced with some horribly extreme brown-nosing and a lot of kissing the asses of all guards and staff.

His eyes widened, as he was shoved forward, out of the search area and into a small corridor to change into his new outfit. Ass. Jesus Christ. Ray never weighed more than 140 pounds at any given time, and couldn’t fight to save his life. The picture of the calendar was violently shoved out of his mind, and in its place was the scariest man that Ray could imagine. Tattoos, a beard, and the heftiest ‘I don’t give a fuck attitude’. He wasn’t a religious man, but Ray prayed to any higher entity that he wouldn’t spark the interest of any man in this god forsaken place.

He was first in line, and was followed by a few other men, who were shoved into the corridor. Some looked terrified for their lives, some looked like they’ve been in this position too many times before. A guard followed one of the last men in and shut the door behind him. The armed man pulled out a piece of paper, and began to read off all of the rules and regulations of the prison. Ray tried to listen as closely as possible, but when the guards monotonous tone proved to be too boring to listen to, be started to look around the room at his fellow inmates. He tried to guess what each man did, within both reasonable and completely ridiculous boundaries. He was concocting a story for the man across the hall on the far right when his thought process was interrupted.

He hadn’t realized that he’d zoned out completely, until the guard was in his face.

“PRISONER NUMBER 108420 DO YOU HAVE A HEARING PROBLEM? WHEN YOU HEAR YOUR NUMBER. YOU RESPOND. UNDERSTOOD?”

Ray nodded weakly, horrified for the consequences of his disobedience. To his surprise, the guard walked away, and continued to call out the rest of the prisoners’ number, like it was roll call in a high school class. When the guard was far enough away, Ray let out a gasp of air, relieved that it would not be his last. While he was waiting to proceed, the scene from moments before played again in his head, and he began to giggle as he realized the irony.

The guard looked over at him, with a less than amused look on his face.

“Is something funny inmate?”

The giggling halted as soon as Ray realized he was the aforementioned inmate. He cleared his throat, in an attempt to make a statement without sounding like he was scared shitless.

“Well, uh.. I thought it was funny..”

The guard cocked an eyebrow. Ray hurriedly proceeded to the supposed punchline.

“I’m in here for drug trafficking and possession, and well.. My number is 420. Get it?”

He ended weakly, hoping that he wouldn’t be judged too harshly. The guard rolled his eyes and closed them for a moment.

“Inmate, I’m glad that you’re amused by such arbitrary things. Surely you’ll be entertained for the next few years.”

He walked to the door opposite the one they entered through, and stood in the doorway.

“Single file line. Do not make eye contact with other inmates. You’ll get to know them soon enough.”

He pulled out another piece of paper as the men complied with his directions, all lining up behind Ray. They began their walk into the prison, and the young man didn’t realize how scary it was. Hands reached out beyond the bars to grab at him, and he couldn’t drown out the sounds of kissing noises as they ventured forward. The men stopped periodically, letting the inmates in line into their new home.

The line was half gone by the time they made it to the second floor, and Ray was less than pleased when his number was called. He peered into the cell past the guard, and inside he saw his nightmare come true.


	2. Meet 'n' Greet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray gets acquainted with his cellmates in the best way possible

A man with tattoos littered across both of his arms sat in the middle of the room with his arms crossed. His beard was complemented with a handlebar mustache, and his eyes were cold and judged all of the men in line harshly. When Ray couldn’t find the courage to step forward, he was shoved in by the guard, who was quick to lock the door and keep moving. When the frail man looked up, the eyes that he feared from outside the cell locked with his own, and he nearly pissed himself. The tattooed man stood up, brushing off imaginary dirt, and he offered a hand out to Ray. Though hesitant to accept, The younger man placed his palm in the others, and was yanked up. His hand wasn’t released, but instead was forced into a shake.

“Geoff.” The tattooed man stated he lifted his other hand up to point to the other men surrounding them.

“Top bunk, Gavin.” A tan man with a sizable nose leaned over and offered a warm smile. “Bottom, Michael.” There was a curly haired man who waved, but didn’t bother to look up.

“I’m top bunk," Geoff informed him, turning towards the other bed. "But since you’re so itty-bitty, you can get top. Only if you’re afraid of being crushed to death. If not, you stay on the bottom.” Ray nodded, and sat down on the bottom bunk, not wanting to cause any problems. Geoff nodded, and retreated to his seat in the middle of the room.

“So, do you have a name? Or do you want us to make one up for you?” Ray nodded, clearing his throat again. “Uh, Narvaez.”

Ray watched Orange is the New Black. He knew how this shit went down. People had to earn first names.

“Jesus fuck, your first name, don’t try and act all hard we all know you’re a goddamned pussy just get the fuck on with it,” a voiced called, and Ray looked around the room to find the source.

He locked eyes with Michael who looked less than happy about his arrival. Ray remembered when his mother told him not to make faces in case they got stuck, and it was evident that Michael’s face was stuck in a perpetual scowl. Ray gulped, too scared to look away from the glasses-faced man.

“Ray. I’m Ray. Hi.” He tried to save his embarrassment with a wave, and he was unsure if he was successful.

Geoff nodded, not showing any emotion. “Michael, check the door, would ya?”

Michael stood up, and walked over, not noticing the man in the other bottom bunk flinching as he passed. “Clear,” he called, returning to his post.

Ray couldn’t help but notice the twang in his voice, recognizing the presence of an accent.

Geoff smiled, and looked up at Gavin. “Time?”

Ray was confused, as they were not supposed to be allowed a clock.

“2 hours til lunch!” He called, Lifting a watch above his head to confirm.

The Puerto-Rican noted an accent in Gavin’s voice too, although his was obviously British to some extent. Geoff grinned even wider.

“Just enough time to acquaint ourselves.” He stood and walked to the ladder next to his bed. Ray didn’t dare look up, and all he heard was a lot of heavy rustling.

“So what are you in for?” Ray looked over at Gavin, whose wide eyes confirmed that he was actually interested in the story.

“Uh, well I was arrested for drug possession with intent to sell and illegal firearms possession, but they charged me for drug trafficking and possession, because my lawyer convinced everyone that the guns were necessary for my job.” Gavin nodded, taking in all the information. “You?”

Gavin smiled, like he was waiting to let him know the minute he fell into the cell.

“Fraud. Made my way across 83 countries with 42 different identities. They caught me in Canada because I tried to buy medical marijuana with one dude’s license and another dude’s prescription. They thought I murdered a bloke for weed! Can you believe it?”

Ray shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. He was comforted by the fact that Gavin had obviously been in the prison long, and he still had a sense of humor, and some trace of happiness.

Ray glanced over at Michael, whose deadpan expression refused to change during both stories.

“Why are you here? Did you frown someone to death?” Ray hoped that his joke would inspire a reaction from the other man, but was dead wrong. Gavin, on the other hand, was dying of laughter. Ray was acutely aware of the fact that Gavin could die within the next few moments, either from falling out of the top bunk, or at the hands of Michael.

“Michael, that’s a bloody good one. I can’t even see you but you’ve probably been frowning your damn head off!”


	3. Hooch to Replace the Absence of Cooch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The men get well

Michael rolled his eyes, cracking a small smile to prove the Brit wrong. He looked at Ray, and sighed.

“I’m the Bob-omber.”

Ray’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. He’d heard plenty of news reports about the Bob-omber, a serial bomber who sent packages to different places signed ‘Bob’. The explosives were the most advanced and deadly in comparison to all other homemade bomb attacks, claiming around 340 peoples lives before the bomber was caught.

“Michael, tell him about why you got extra time! With your explosive attitude and whatnot." The voice beamed with excitement, like a little kid waiting to hear his favorite story for the 110th time. Michael looked up at the bed above him, and punched the dip in the frame where Gavin was placed. Gavin squawked, rolling over to rub where Michael had injured him, and Ray couldn’t help but laugh. Michael grinned at him, happy to see that someone else gained pleasure from seeing Gavin injured like him. He cleared his throat, and cracked his knuckles.

“Well, I knew they were coming for me, I saw all the news reports, and I couldn’t go down without a fight. So I made a special little present for them. A shoe bomb, like they warn you about when you take a flight  I was so into it, I implanted the detonator into my wrist, just so that they couldn't find anything to charge me with."

Michael paused his story and lifted his arm, showing the still visible scar he had from the operation he was forced to undergo to remove it.

"When they came to get me, they were everything but gentle. After exchanging a few punches and biting a couple of ‘em, they cuffed me and threw a muzzle on me like some kinda animal." MIchael shivered, the feeling of the sharp metal grinding against his cheek still fresh in his mind. 

"We got into the car, and one of the officers thought it was a smart idea to mouth off. He looked at me and said ‘now I know why you’re so into bombs. You’ve got an explosive personality.’ I wanted to wait until I got to the police station, but he was just so fuckin stupid, I had to do something. I head butted him and his partner. We didn’t drive off the road, but we swerved enough where he couldn’t look at me anymore. I unbuckled myself, and took off my shoes, I opened the door and right as they turned around, I jumped. They stopped and tried to spin around, but almost ran into all the other cop cars that were following us. They couldn’t shoot me because I wasn’t armed and couldn’t be considered dangerous, so it was just me running down the street barefoot. I waited until they were all in a heap, trying to put their dumb brains together to come up with a good idea to catch me. I pressed the handcuffs down on my wrist, and it was all over. That stupid fuckin cop was ashes, and so was everyone else who thought they could outsmart me. After that I just walked myself to the police station, because if I hid again, they’d kill me as soon as they found me.”

Throughout the whole story, Ray’s mouth had fell open. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask Geoff about his reason for being in here. After hearing all of the other stories, the young man felt a bit inferior. Not that it was a contest, or anything, but he just felt like they had really good reasons for being locked up. He decided that no matter how odd he felt, he should know all of his roommates.

“What about you, Geoff?” There was no answer, and he gave a look of concern to the other two men.

“Geoff?”

Gavin lifted his head up to peer across into the other top bunk. “Oh you bloody prick! Give it ‘ere.”

Geoff giggled, and leaned over as far as he could, meeting Gavin’s outstretched hands and passed a bottle over. Ray didn’t realize that they could have drinks in the bunk.

“What’s that? Like, juice or..”

Geoff laughed loudly, shaking his head and dropping his head over the side of the bunk to look at Ray. “S’pruno. Hooch. The devil’s nectar.”

Ray nodded, and didn’t understand why he was surprised that they had pruno. It was in Orange is the New Black. He should’ve seen it coming. Gavin smiled, his eyes a bit hazier than before.

“Want some?” Ray shook his head. “I don’t drink, sorry.”

Gavin nodded and handed the bottle down to Michael.

“Michael, take out your special! He should have something.”

Michael shrugged, placing the bottle carefully on his bed as he got on his knees. With a quick pop, the tile underneath the bunk came loose, and he pulled out a small platter covered in tin foil.

“Brownies. I’ve got some friends on kitchen duty, who are pretty lenient with their ingredients."

Ray grinned, trying to hide his excitement as he snagged a brownie. He had always been a fan of edibles, and it had been a while since he’d had a quality brownie.

“Are they really good?” Michael nodded, and opened his mouth.

“Everything in here is quaalliittyy.” Gavin sputtered, the hooch obviously claiming him. “S’tip toppers.”

Michael smirked at his bunkmates words and raised an eyebrow towards Ray. “You heard the man. Tip toppers.”

Ray chuckled as he took a bite, but his chuckling was soon overpowered by Geoff’s voice.

“Goddamn you’re fuckin dumb as dicks!”

The tattooed man giggled in a pitch that Ray would never expect to come out of a man that tough-looking, but lo and behold, Geoff continued to giggle as he kicked his feet.

“I would recommend half, just because you’re new.” Ray nodded at Michael, but couldn’t fight the urge to talk back.

“I mean, I think I can handle it. I basically did this for a living.” Michael shook his head.

“This isn’t a pot brownie made by potheads. This is a pot brownie made by people who graduated from pot onto cocaine and heroin. To be honest, I’m surprised that these still look and taste like brownies, because they’re 90% weed.”

Ray scoffed, trying to brush off the information. “Only 90? Weeaakk.” He laughed along with the other men, and placed the other half of the brownie on the plate, but it was quickly scooped up by Michael.

“You shouldn’t be the only one tripping balls. At least not on your first day.” Ray smiled and accepted the company, lifting his brownie up towards the other man. 

"Cheers!"


	4. Five's a Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New friends enter the fray.

The curly-haired man passed the bottle on to Geoff, who happily accepted it, giving a thumbs up as he lifted the bottle to his lips. The group of men continued to chit-chat, covering many topics that they considered to be important for Ray to know for his stay in prison.

“So, are you gay?” Ray looked over at Gavin, surprised that he was so forward about it.

“I mean, I’ve kissed a guy, but I wouldn’t consider myself to be gay..” Ray shrugged it off, hoping that he didn’t offend anyone in the room. “Are any of you?” He was met with a chorus of no’s.

“Hey, Gavvers. How long til?”

Gavin looked at his watch and was disappointed with what the face told him. “Only 10 minutes left. Clean up time.”

Michael and Geoff grunted, preparing themselves to pack up their goods. Ray stood to offer help, and was almost knocked off his feet. The room tilted and span around him, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the way he was moving, or the way he was feeling. He looked over at Michael to see if he was affected as well. The quasi-ginger was also moving oddly, as if he were questioning his every move. Ray sighed, happy to know that it was the brownie kicking in, and not his heart failing him. He watched as Geoff lifted a ceiling tile and placed the bottle above the bed. He looked over to the other bed to watch Michael replace the floor tile, and Gavin place his watch inside a mini-statue of the Queen. He smiled, almost proud of the smarts that his cellmates possessed. He walked over to his bed to begin to make it, but was halted by a hand on his.

“Lemme do it” Michael said, removing the Puerto-Rican’s hands from the bedsheets.

“No, it’s fine thanks,” Ray protested replacing his hands.

“Trust him, Ray.” Gavin called from his bunk. “Michael’ll make your bed up like your mum used ta. S’a magical experience, really.”

Ray looked over at Michael, trying to confirm what sounded like nonsense from the tan man. Michael shrugged, yanking the bed sheet out of Ray’s grasp.

“I make beds. That’s my chore in the room. Guess we forgot about that.” Ray nodded, going over to sit in the chair that Geoff was placed in when he first arrived.

“What are you good at, Ray? Chore-wise.” He looked over at Geoff, who was waiting for an answer.

“Uh.. I’m pretty good at sweeping and mopping.. “ “Perfect!” Geoff confirmed his new position with a clap.

“Gavin scrubs down all of the surfaces that aren’t on the floor, and I’m the supplier of any and everything you need to get your job done.” Ray paused for a moment. “Does that include drugs?” Geoff nodded. “If you can roll it, you can have it.”

Ray nodded. He had so many more questions, but didn’t get a chance to ask before a guard rapped on the bars of their cell.

“Jones, Free, Ramsey, Narvaez?” All of the men nodded. The guard opened the door of the cell and stepped aside.

“Time for lunch.”

“We know,” Gavin replied, sneaking smiles to the other men in the cell.

“I’m glad you have concept of time that's almost as good as my 5 year old. Good to know. Let’s go.”

Geoff jumped down from his bunk and sauntered out, all of the men following. Michael insisted that Ray before him.

“It stops people from fucking with you.. If they see that you’re being led by Geoff and trailed by me.” Even while high as a kite, Michael managed to look extremely menacing. Ray nodded, understanding the logic behind it.

During the two hours that he spent with the other men, he’d almost forgotten that he was locked in with a helluva a lot of dangerous men. The catcalls that he heard when he’d first arrived were replaced by whispers between inmates about his placement into Geoff’s crew. They walked over to the lunch line, and Ray couldn’t help but feel awkward with everyone’s eyes on him.

“What’s the deal?”

He looked over at Gavin, who didn’t seem phased in the slightest by the stares.

“Well, I guess you ‘aven’t heard, because you’ve been with us the whole time, but we’re considered to be the most powerful people in the prison. Well, us and Ryan.”

Ray nodded, a bit less confused. “Who’s Ryan?”

As if on cue, the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open, and two officers walked forward followed by a prisoner and two other guards. The man in the middle had a pleasant expression on his face as he walked through the cafeteria, chuckling as a path was made for him almost instantaneously, with men almost throwing themselves out of the way to avoid being caught in front of the prisoner. Ray watched as a chill went down all of the men’s spines, and soon experienced the same thing when the man walked up to him. He expected Michael or Geoff to stand in front of him, to protect him to some extent, but instead, he was left alone, face to face with the man who seemed to be the most feared in the prison.

“Rye-Bread!”

 

 


	5. What's better than lunch? Breakfast for Lunch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun Times at Lunchtime. Sadly, the prison does not offer breakfast for lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL OF MY CHAPTERS GOT FUCKED THE FUCK UP 
> 
>  
> 
> FUCK

Ray let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding in when the man looked to the right of Ray, at the other man with glasses. Michael all but attacked Ryan when he hugged him, and ignored the guards when they told him to let go. Ryan squeezed the smaller man before letting go and standing in line behind Michael, with no protest from the rest of the line, who was simply happy that they didn’t get on his bad side.

“Ryan’s like Michael’s dad. They’ve been in here longer than me or Geoff. They’ve never even been cellmates but they’re closer than you’d believe.” Gavin explained, eyeing Michael as he questioned Ryan about his day so far.

After the men got their food, they sat down at a table and didn’t hesitate to start eating. Ray mentally prepared himself for the food he was about to eat. He was certain that it would be terrible. Although he’d been wrong about all of his other assumptions about prison, he was sure that he would be right about this one. He was disappointed when he bit in to his burger, because not only was it not bad, it was actually decent. It was not the best burger he’d ever eaten (Nothing could beat Five Guys), but it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. He looked over at Ryan, who was drumming up conversation with all of the other men.

“Ryan, I’m uh, Ray.” He offered his hand over, which was pleasantly accepted into Ryan’s grasp.

His hands were stronger than Ray and anticipated, and he couldn’t help but try and flex his aching hand when the older man pulled away. The older man pushed the hair away from his face, and gave another warm smile. Ray joined in on their conversation, and couldn’t help but feel a wave of comfort flow over him. He didn’t expect to feel this content in prison.It hadn’t even been 24 hours, but Ray felt like he had more genuine friends in here than he did when he was free.

Ray was bombarded with questions after they’d finished eating, all about the outside world. Before him, Gavin had been the newest member of the group, and that was three years ago.The men were surprised with how much has changed since the last time they asked the same questions. Of course they got visitors on occasion, but their visitors considered other things to be more important. Outsiders didn’t realize how important the outside world becomes when you’re trapped inside with so much of the past.

As the conversation went on, Ray welled up with joy with every answer he gave, every joke they made, and every time Geoff said ‘dicks’. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the amount of drugs he ingested, or the genuine feeling of happiness, but he stood up and hugged everyone at the table.

The other four men offered each other confused looks as Ray made his way around the table, but shrugged it off, assuming that it was because of the difficult adjustment he had to make when he entered the prison. When Ray sat back down, he sighed.

“I think I’m gonna be okay with this for the next few years.”

There was a pause, and the rest of the men began to laugh.

  
Ray deflated immediately, hurt by the fact that they didn’t take him seriously. “Okay,” he started. “Sorry for actually thinking you guys actually liked me. Whatever.”

The laughter died down as they realized how unhappy they’d made the new inmate.

“Ray, we’re not laughing because we don’t like you,” Ryan offered, his tone much more hushed than before. “We’re laughing because we’re not gonna be here for the next few years.”

Ray’s hurt expression was quickly replaced with a puzzled one.

“You’re delirious. What are you talking about? Michael killed over 300 people! He’s not getting out anytime soon!”

His voice began to raise with every word until he was given a stern look by Geoff.

“Gavin made a fool out of 83 countries immigration system! Where’s he gonna go when he gets out? Bumblefuck, Africa? Yeah have fun there buddy.”

The silence at the table was uncomfortable for everyone there, as they didn’t know how to react to Ray’s outburst.

  
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Geoff shook his head at the smaller man, tempted to laugh again, but thought better of it. He leaned in close to Ray, looking him in the eye.

“You’re coming too. We’re gonna get out of here.”


	6. Fun with beads!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not anal beads. I promise. It's not that kind of story... yet ;0
> 
> People underestimate the power of Geoff

Ray’s mouth was stuck open yet again, as he tried to process the words of Geoff. Was Michael right? Was the brownie too much? He quickly waved a hand in front of his face to try and snap him back into reality, but nothing changed. He tried to ask a question, but a guttural noise replaced what he expected to be syllables. A chorus of chuckles rang out, as the guards announced that it was rec time. The cellmates said their goodbyes to Ryan, who was led outside by the guards.

  
“So who are his cellmates? And why doesn’t he get a choice?”

  
Michael sighed, looking after Ryan as he shuffled out.

“He’s in a solitary cell, and he has to get at least one hour of exercise a day. Court ordered.”

Ray nodded, not wanting to upset Michael further with anymore questions. They walked into the arts and crafts corridor, and Ray was a bit surprised by what he saw.

He’d never seen a man with tattoos on his face look so intense about his crayon drawing. He looked over at the other men, who’d already spread out around the room. He wasn’t sure which man to shadow, but decided on Geoff, who was working with beads. The older man would probably be the best source of information as to what the hell they were talking about at the end of lunch.

“Hey Geoff, whatcha making?” Geoff gave him a small smile, and lifted the bracelet from his hands so that the other man could see.

“It’s a bracelet for my wife.” Ray nodded and smiled back.

A man next to them scoffed, but shut up very quickly when Geoff turned around.

“Is there something wrong?”

The room fell silent, as everyone turned to watch the altercation. The man who sat across from them, who Ray could only describe as a ‘Bald Fuckface,’ realized that he couldn’t back down, and cleared his throat, much like Ray did when he first arrived.

“Well I was wondering, are you uh.. gonna put the bracelet on her grave?”

In a flash, the room was emptied, aside from Ray, Geoff, Bald Fuckface, and the guards who were required to be there. Gavin and Michael were pressed against the window, Michael obviously more so than Gavin, due to his nose.

Geoff stood up and walked behind the bald man, who was too petrified to move from his seat. Ray looked on, a bit worried to see what his new friend was capable of doing. Geoff cracked his knuckles above the man’s head smirking when he watched the man flinch. He placed his hands on the man’s shoulders, quickly waving off the guards who walked forward.

Geoff looked over at Ray, who was sitting quietly, and nodded towards the door.

As soon as Ray walked out, he was grabbed by Gavin, and shoved against the window like all of the other onlookers.

Geoff began to rub the shoulders of the Bald Fuckface, and his discomfort was plastered all over his face, as he looked towards the windows for help. Geoff leaned down, blocking the prisoner’s view of the windows, and whispered in his ear.

Not even the guards knew what he said but after a moment, the bald man let out a loud cry. Geoff let go of the man’s shoulders, and in a flash, he ran out of the room, past all of the men, not bothering to say a word.

The rest of the inmates trickled back into the room, eyeing Geoff carefully as they walked back to their seats, except for the men who were originally at the beads table. Those men decided to move over to anything but that. Michael and Gavin sat down on either side of the two men, and each reached for Geoff’s hand, trying to console the obviously heated man.

Soon after the tension eased in the room, Ryan walked in, and most of the men in the room had a communal gasp before realizing that he wasn’t out for blood.

“Ugh, why are we at the beads table? My fingers are too big for the string.”

Geoff smirked along with Michael and Ray.

“Big..Meaty.. Claws!!” They called out, laughing as they all feigned an Australian accent and pointed at Ryan. Ryan looked less than amused, waiting for the laughter to die down. He looked at Ray and shook his head.

"These two," he started, pointing at Geoff and Michael, "only have access to Spongebob, because they don't let us watch anything violent in here. What's your excuse?"

Ray shrugged. "I may look like I'm 25 but I'm actually 10."

  
"Spoiler alert," Michael commented, a smirk playing in his lips.

Ryan rolled his eyes, amused by his new friend's immaturity. "But seriously, why don't we go to the uh, drawing board?"

He looked around at the men to see their reactions. They all smiled, save for Ray who looked clueless as to what they were doing. The men stood, and headed to the drawing table, which was cleared out as soon as Ryan asked to sit down.


	7. The Boys Get Shifty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best way to plan something illegal is with markers and crayons.

Ryan pulled a piece of paper close to him along with a marker, and the other men followed suit. Ray immediately started doodling, paying no mind to the men around him.

"Dude how do you draw a sword? I wanna give this dude a weapon bu--" His thought trailed off as he saw all of the other men's paper.

Each of them had one word written at the top, and the men huddled in the middle, mumbling about the context of the words. Ray looked up at the guards, all of whom tried their hardest to not look at Ryan and Geoff. He then glanced at all of their papers, trying to catch up.

'Transport, Friends, Venue, Gift.'

"What's this for?" Ray questioned, looking around for answers.

"It's for my sister's baby shower. She's 8 and a half months along but the lil guy's bustin' out." Geoff replied, raising his eyebrows on the last few words, hoping that the younger man caught the drift.

Ray nodded, understanding the situation. "Do you wanna help plan?" Ray nodded again, flipping his picture over. "I've got a friend who can help with the party favors."

Ryan grinned, happy that his new friend was willing to help.

"Okay, let's go through the planning so far, shall we?" Ryan looked around the table, and the men nodded.

"Michael, Geoff said your friend could help with transportation?"

  
"Oh, yeah. My friend uh, Lexi had like 3 kids, so she's got a spare mini-van. If there's any chance of that damn baby poppin' out, she can take your sister and everyone at that party to the hospital." They then glanced down at the paper in front Michael, where he had written 'Van 1/2 mile down the freeway, posed as a break-down.'

The five men nodded, and Michael began to doodle aimlessly, waiting for the group to continue.

They then focused on Gavin, who was waiting patiently for his turn

. "Well your sister has a lot of friends from what you've told me, and I think I've met some of them before.." he rambled on, eyes trailing down to his paper.

'Peggy has our future identities ready to go. Occupations, medical records, credit cards. Anything else?' He cleared his throat, and placed his marker on the paper.

"Guys, does this look like me? I wanna give the lil' bloke a peer at his uncle Gav." He passed the paper around, looking toward the next man to proceed until his paper was filled out.

Ryan nodded, and looked down at his paper, trying to find a good way to allude to what was on his paper.

"So Ray, you said that there's a video game called MINEcraft? I'd love to get something like that UNDER my belt. I mean, that's if I ever get out of PRISON. He started asking Ray more about the game, flashing his paper.

'Tunnels 3ft down. Kitchen supplies available. Look in yard.' They all nodded, as Geoff cut Ryan and Ray's conversation short.

"Okay, let's get back to my sister? Please?" He smirked, still proud that his cover story worked well with the plan.

"Now the baby shower starts at 11, and goes until 2. For a gift, I was thinking clothes. A shit ton of them. Michael, if I get someone in my family to give Lexi money on my behalf, do you think she could get some clothes? Nothing to flashy. He's a baby, not a disco ball or a cabbage patch kid."

Michael nodded, flipping his paper over to jot down the new information.

  
Gavin looked down at his paper, and realized a valid point that was brought up.

"ey, where is it? Like, where is this gonna end up?" The men looked toward Geoff for answers.

"Well I didn't think y'all needed to know, but I bought her a new house to celebrate expanding her family." They all smiled, relieved that the mustachioed man had already thought ahead.

"Now, party favors? I don't know how much my sister can pay for them." Ray waved his hand at Geoff's concern.

"Don't worry about price. Consider it my gift to her." The older man nodded, waiting to hear the rest of Ray's spiel

. "Well since its the summer, think some bubbles and water guns would be nice. We can also have some fireworks at the end of the shower, and I dunno, cute little baby dinner sets? Like bibs and knives and shit? What the fuck do babies like?"

Ryan chuckled. "They're babies. They like whatever the fuck they get."

Gavin looked at him with a surprised look. "Ryan sounds way too aggressive about babies."

The other men laughed and agreed, stopping slowly to read Ray's paper.

'Any particular type of gun, knife, explosive, drug, etc.? Assuming you guys are into it.'

He followed Gavin's suit of passing the paper around, and struck up a conversation with Ryan.

"So, what did you uh, do to get in here?"

Ryan raised an eyebrow, surprised that Ray hadn't already heard. "Are you sure you want to know?"

He wasn't, but Ray nodded his head anyway.

"Pinky promise that you won't freak out." Ray let his his pinky be enveloped by the other man's, who gave a warm smile.

"I had a psychotic break and went on a murderous rampage in a hospital. I apparently killed 52 people and caused the death of around 100."

Ray tried to hide the panic in his eyes as he processed Ryan's story. He surprised that the man who seemed the most sane had the loosest grip on reality out of everyone he’s met. He tried to smile, but found it a bit hard. He didn't want to be afraid of the man who was one of the main reasons for his comfort in prison, and he couldn't help but recognize the positive energy that he sent out towards all of the people who've accepted him. He decided to push his feelings aside, and save it for another day when he had enough information from other people to properly judge. He offered up a better smile to the larger man, who accepted it gratefully. Ray looked at the paper in front of him, and nodded, making a mental note to tell Tina about the list that they've established. He looked at everyone else’s paper, all of them littered with doodles, not even hinting at the information at the other side.

"Hey, Gavin. I don't think you drew your nose is big enough."


	8. The Nightwoman Cometh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on, and someone comes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I'm making a change to my fic, specifically involving Geoff's daughter Millie. It's come to my attention that Geoff has specifically asked for Millie to not be written about/mentioned in anyway, so i've gotta respect those wishes. It shouldn't change the fic that much (Or at all, for that matter), but yeah. That being said, make sure you always know the comfort levels of the people you're writing fanfiction about!! especially since these are actual people and not just characters. Ok. That's it. Story is go.

Rec time was soon over, and they were ushered back into their cell until dinner. The men retreated to their bunks, and Ray sat, waiting for something else to happen.

“So.. What do we do now?”

Geoff shrugged, looking around for any suggestions from the other men. Michael gestured toward his brownie platter, and Geoff nodded, reaching up into his ceiling.

“Let’s talk! We still don’t know very much about you, given the circumstances.”

Ray nodded, happy that the other men felt mutually in the dark. Michael offered him a brownie, which was rejected, due to Ray’s inability to focus on something when there was no noise to guide him. They began to chat, covering superficial topics like Ray’s favorite food and color, as well as fairly deep questions, like whether or not he’d kill his mom and dad for enough money to support his family for the next three generations.

“So, Gavin, who’s Peggy?” Ray cocked his head to the side, curious to hear his response. Ray was surprised that the Brit had any sort of connections in the states, considering that all of his connections probably knew him by a different name.

“Peggy? Who? Wot?”

“Meg ya fuckin’ idiot.” Michael shook his head at his bunkmate’s obliviousness.

“Ohh, well she’s uh, she’s my lady, isn’t she? Ma lil’ lady friend. She’s got uh, pink hair.”

Ray nodded, slightly confused about the details that Gavin chose to share, and those he didn’t. He assumed that he was airing on the side of caution due to the guards patrolling outside, but with Gavin, he couldn’t be sure.

“I’ve got a lady friend too, I guess.” The other men raised their eyebrows, interested to hear the story that their new friend had to offer. “Her name is uh..Ti-- uhm,” he stumbled over his words, failing to come up with a codename for Tina on the fly.

“Uh.. Ti-...Tiff-... Tiffany! Yep! Good ol’ Tiffany. We have breakfast a lot. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Sometimes we watch that movie. Not really, Tin-TIFFANY doesn’t like that movie all that much.”

He avoided the stares of his cellmates, whose emotions were mixed between concern and hysteria.

“Hey, buddy.. Did you just stroke out?” Geoff was leaned over the bed, studying Ray’s body language. Ray shook his head and began to chuckle. The chuckling spread to the other men, and soon they were laughing so loudly that the guards had to tell them to quiet down. Their conversation worked its way back, and they chatted until dinner.

As they were led past the few windows within the building, he realized that he was dark out, and couldn’t fight the feeling of content.

It was the first night in two years where he didn’t have to keep one hand on a gun as he patrolled streets, looking for people to sell to, praying that someone would buy a dub so that he could keep his bills paid.

He looked ahead of him to Gavin and Geoff, who were damn-near strutting down the hall, and glanced behind him to Michael, who was striking fear into the men who chose to make eye contact with him. They walked to the dining hall, where Ryan was already waiting for the group, sitting at his own table, munching quietly on his vegetables.

They gathered around the table after grabbing their food, and talked more about the oddities of the day. Ray was shocked to realize that even though he’s been with 3/4ths of these men all day, they never run out of things to talk about.

The main topic of the night was Geoff’s encounter with the bald man earlier that day, and specifically what he’d said to the man to make him run like a pig from a butcher. Ryan looked on, amused, as all of the men screamed over each other, trying to relay their perspective on how the ordeal went down to catch him up. The men drawled on, keeping themselves entertained for the rest of the night, until they were forced to sleep.

Ray laid down and sat back up immediately. He inspected his pillow, and looked over at Michael, who seemed to be well on his way to sleep.

“Hey, Michael." No response. But it couldn't wait. "Michael! I need to ask you something important.”

“What,” Michael grumbled, squinting across the room.

“How’d you do it? This is magical.”

“When I wasn’t bombing buildings I was the fucking sandman. Shut the hell up and go to bed.”

Ray complied, resting his head on his pillow once more, and pulling the scratchy blanket up to his chin. To his astonishment, the blanket didn’t irritate him in the slightest. None of the low-quality sheets bothered him, for that matter. He had to make Michael spill his secret. The bed wasn’t like his “mum” made it, as Gavin had described. It was better. It was like he was wrapped in the perfect the cocoon. He fell asleep faster than he’d remember since he was a young kid, and he was met with good dreams, ones that he wasn’t sure he should thank the prison or the brownies for.

* * *

 

There was a knock on the door. Caiti wasn’t even sure if it was from outside her own home, or from inside the drama she was watching on Netflix. The sound repeated itself, this time with more urgency, and Caiti sighed, unraveling herself from her blankets and dog to see who was the culprit of this late night disturbance. She opened the door, and the smile that she shared with all who encountered her quickly faded, as she studied the sight before her eyes.

The woman on the other side of the door frame had obviously clawed her way out of hell within the last 10 minutes. It was the only way to describe her appearance. Her red hair was matted down with blood and dirt, her bangs plastered to her face with sweat. Her cheeks were riddled with cuts and bruises, as well as the majority of her body. Her stereotypical tourist shirt was ripped and tattered, the chest pocket holding on by a thread, and the multiple tears revealing the other wounds scattered about her frame. Her arms were littered with scars and tracks, both old and new.

Caiti sighed, holding back the urge to break down and scream. She stepped aside, and let the woman into her home. The beaten woman walked carefully, unsure as to where Caiti would and would not allow her to roam. Caiti shut the door and led the other woman upstairs to the bathroom.

They remained silent as Caiti tended to the wounds, aside from the occasional wince from Caiti when she noted the pain in the other woman’s eyes. Once the bandages were set, the pair walked into the bedroom, where a pile of clothes sat on one of the bedside tables. Caiti pointed to the pile, and watched as the pile was collected, and the other woman began to walk to the bathroom to change.

“How long’s it been?”

“Around two months. I need other things to get through the withdrawals but.. Two months since the heavy stuff.” The red-haired woman undressed, wincing as the cloth rubbed against her raw skin. She relished the feeling of soft cotton on her body, accepting it as one of the only luxuries she had.

“You can’t keep doing this, Jack. You can’t keep pretending like you're getting better.” Jack looked towards Caiti, who was standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes. Jack dropped the pants in her hands and ran towards her girlfriend, arms open.

Caiti collapsed into the embrace, allowing for the tears to roll down her cheeks. Jack ran her fingers through the distressed woman’s hair, shushing her quietly as their dog rubbed against both of their legs to offer extra comfort. They held each other for ages, silent aside from Jack whispering over and over “I’m sorry.”

When the two parted, Caiti immediately made her way back downstairs to the couch, to where her show was still paused, and her blanket was laid out onto the floor. Jack trailed behind, waiting for her cue to leave. Caiti sat down on the couch, and patted a cushion next to her. When Jack sat down, Caiti let out a sigh, and looked Jack in the eyes.

To her dismay, they were not the same eyes that she fell in love with. The eyes that she saw the first time they met in Australia were bright, joyful, and full of hope and wisdom. Now, they were dull and lifeless. Jack felt the judgement from her girlfriend and cringed slightly, hurt that the unconditional love that they shared over the years had met its limits.

“Do you think you can stop?” Jack nodded vigorously, hoping that the other woman would believe her.

“I don’t mean for a little bit. I don’t mean stop and then start doing it behind my back again. I want you to stop. I don’t care if you have to break your fingers to stop from shooting up, or if you have to stop drinking and smoking to keep from escalating. I don’t give a flying fuck. I need to know that you care enough about me to stop. Do you care enough?” Jack nodded, much more weakly this time. She knew that the trust in their relationship had been broken over her issues over the past two months.

“But I, I can’t go to rehab. Our insurance won’t cover it and it’s too expensive.” Jack mumbled. Caiti rolled her eyes, frustrated that they were spiraling into the same conversation that led them to separate a few months ago.

“I’ll spend all the money I need to for you! I don’t care! We can handle things being a little tight for a little bit. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Caiti, there’s a difference between living tight and living without electricity and barely enough food for months on end?” Jack huffed.

Her lover had always been too selfless for Jack’s taste. Caiti was always willing to give up 100% of what she had in order to make someone else’s life better, even if it made her life worse. This trait was most likely the reason that Jack had managed to keep finding her way back home after all these months, but that was overlooked in the heat of the conversation.

“I can handle myself. I’ll figure this out.”

“You’ve been saying that for six months, Jack. Six months and you haven’t taken care of shit.”

Jack felt a shiver run through her spine as hot tears rose to her lids. She wanted to leave, to salvage as much pride as she could, but she knew that she left her pride behind when she walked out the front door six months ago. She let her head hang in defeat, listening to Caiti grumble in protest.

“Caiti. If I go, you’ll have barely any money. I will be the reason that you can't have nice things or enjoy life the way you're supposed to. I don’t know if I can let you do that for me. I want you to have the life you always wanted. The life we were supposed to have together.”

“Jack, I can’t have that life without you. We can put that on the backburner. We need to get you well.”

Jack collapsed onto Caiti’s shoulder, failing to reply. She didn’t even notice that tears were falling until she saw the stain on Caiti’s sweatshirt. She sobbed and slobbered, her cries drowning out Caiti’s gentle words.

“I love you,” she choked out, clutching onto anything that her fingers could find to try and get a grip.

“I love you too, Jack.” Caiti whispered. It killed her to watch her girlfriend cry like this. There’ve only been two times when she’s seen Jack cry like that. The first time being when Jack’s parents had to move out of her childhood home because the upkeep was too expensive. The second being when Caiti told Jack that they could not get married if Jack kept using.

The crying subsided quickly enough, and the couple sat, stewing in their own thoughts, wondering what the next step would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was it good? did it suck? are you impressed/disgusted? let me know in the comments! thanks for reading! <3 Kara

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I hope this was okay  
> If it was, tell me  
> if it wasn't, tell me!!  
> <3 Kara


End file.
